Soccer superstar Hope Solo will be getting her kicks in a whole new arena as she brings her competitive spirit to the Dancing With The Stars stage.
Hope Solo is widely considered the best goalkeeper in the world and has been the starter for the United States Women's National Team since 2005. She scored 109 goals as a high school forward before moving to goal at the University of Washington near her hometown of Richland.
At the 2011 World Cup, Hope recorded two shutouts in group play and then, in what is considered one of the greatest soccer games in history, made a save on a penalty shootout against Brazil in the quarterfinal, helping the Americans advance to the semis. The U.S. reached the finals, falling to Japan in a penalty shootout after a 2-2 draw.
Hope was awarded the Golden Glove by FIFA as the tournament's top goalkeeper. She was also the starting goalkeeper for the United States in the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup and the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing where the U.S. women's team won the gold medal by defeating Brazil 1-0 in extra time. This was in no small measure due to Hope's performance as she stopped an energetic Brazilian attack, making save after save.
Hope began her Women's Professional Soccer career playing for Saint Louis Athletica and was named Goalkeeper of the Year in 2009. Since then, she has played for the Atlanta Beat and currently plays for MagicJack as the starting goalkeeper and is a two-time WPS All Star. Not bad. Not bad at all.
When not playing soccer, Hope enjoys reading, basketball, beach volleyball and other outdoor activities. She loves traveling the world and gives back through community service projects. We're pretty sure she'll also love the challenge of trying to win it all on Dancing With The Stars.
